Sunday, December 5, 2010

Robert Duvall completely throws himself into the character of "Sony", a Pentecostal preacher on the run from a law after he puts his wife's lover into a coma. The late Farrah Fawcettplays his wife. The late June Carter Cash plays his ailing mother. This is the kind of performance that would make anybody a Robert Duvall fan. He plays a man of great religious conviction, who may be a little crazy, but spends every moment of every day like he is on personal mission from God.

There is a great deal of religious sermonizing in this movie. At first, I wasn't sure that I was going to like this movie. It takes a rather long 17 minutes for the movie to develop any kind of plot. It took maybe another 20 minutes for me to really start to like Sony. Nevertheless, there is something appealing about a man on the run, especially when that man has such conviction of purpose.

The center of the film focuses on a conflict with a character played by Billy Bob Thornton, that turns out in a really surprising way.

The movie started to lose me toward the end because of a sermon that lasted a whopping 17 minutes and 45 seconds, but the sermon ends on a sentimental note that I very much enjoyed.

When the credits started rolling I was disappointed that we didn't learn Sony's fate, but then the movie shows it to us. Let's just say that this man never stopped preaching.

Overall, it is a little bit of a slow film, but the performances from all the cast are like a master class in acting.